Employer groups and the Opposition have railed against new Right to Disconnect laws, which ensure workers are not punished for refusing to answer unreasonable contact from their bosses outside of their paid work hours.

The Right to Disconnect was included in the federal government’s wider industrial relations reforms after negotiations with the Greens.

This bill was passed by the Senate last week, and will return to the lower house to be ticked off before becoming law in six months.

The law aims to ensure that Australian workers are not punished for declining to answer “unreasonable” phone calls, emails or other forms of communication from their workplace outside of their scheduled work hours.

Employers will face fines if they ignore a Fair Work Commission-issued stop order for contacting their employees.

The right to disconnect has the backing of the government, the Greens, a number of independent senators, unions and employees, but has drawn the ire of business groups and the federal Opposition.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton pledged to repeal the right to disconnect if the Coalition wins the next election, criticising the government for agreeing to the Greens-led reform.

“If you think it’s okay to outsource your industrial relations or your economic policy to the Greens, which is what the Prime Minister is doing, then we are going to see a continuation of the productivity problem in our country,” Dutton said over the weekend.

Tech not happy

A number of tech companies and CEOs have also raised concerns with the Right Disconnect.

These include Biza.io CEO and founder Stuart Low, who said he is worried about the “loose ends” around the new right to disconnect.

“The main concern with the right to disconnect legislation is primarily clarity on what is proposed and what the boundaries are, particularly for the tech sector,” Low told Information Age.

“Technology is a 24-7 business and the uncertainty associated with awaiting Fair Work Commission rulings is problematic for companies that have existing obligations and existing approaches to maintaining timely and efficient operational responses.

“While I support the intent of what is proposed, I’m mainly concerned at the loose ends not yet clarified.”

Low said he is worried about what will happen in the event of an emergency, such as a tech outage.

“It’s unclear how a worker can be unable to be contacted outside working hours and still reliably be available for an emergency,” he said.

“Is it reasonable? Sure. Is it realistic? Probably not. Someone is either available to answer a call or they aren’t.”

A work-related communication about an emergency such as an outage would not be seen as unreasonable under the right to disconnect legislation, and many organisations have existing agreements with tech workers for them to remain on call outside of their hours, something which the Right to Disconnect would not touch.

Flexible working at risk

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said companies may end flexible working arrangements for employers in response to the Right to Disconnect.

“Businesses are preparing for the new laws and unfortunately for employees, many are indicating that flexibilities in workplaces such as leaving early to pick up the kids or going to the dentist will be cut back,” Willox said.

“Flexibility cuts both ways and if employees want to play hardball, they can expect their employer to react accordingly.

“All of this is both sad and unfortunate.”

But flexible working agreements negotiated with employers that see workers leaving work to pick up children and then returning to work at home, for example, would not be covered by the Right to Disconnect provisions, as communications during the agreed times would be unlikely to be seen to be unreasonable.

Spreading misinformation

The employer group’s claims are a “complete misstatement” of what the right to disconnect does, Greens senator Barbara Pocock said.

“I’m absolutely appalled at that statement from leaders of an employer organisation,” Pocock said.

“Threatening women carers and parents with a loss of their flexibility if they say ‘I’m not going to be available 24-7’, that is not the intention of the law that has been passed and it is really bad to hear that threat.

“Flexibility is an important part of our workplaces and it’s a vital support for working carers.”

Pocock also accused the Coalition of “wanting to end the weekend” over its plans to scrap the Right to Disconnect if it wins back government.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus slammed the comments by Willox, saying they were “insulting” and that the right to disconnect is a “very sensible” policy.

“It simply means your employer shouldn’t unreasonably expect you to work unpaid – how straightforward is that?” McManus told ABC RN Breakfast.